The latest addition to my website is Emilio Fraia‘s Sevastopol (Sevastopol). This consists of three linked stories inspired by Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Sketches, though only one is actually set (in part) in Sevastopol. All three, however, are about people struggling with relationships and struggling to find meaning in their life. The first is about a Brazilian woman who wants to be the first Brazilian woman to climb the Seven Summits but an accident puts paid to that ambition and her relationship. The second is about a man running a remote hotel which he has had to close and who loses his last guest. The third is about two Brazilian men trying to stage a play about a painter during the Crimean War who does not want to paint battles. Neither their relationship nor the play go well. Fraia tells excellent stories of lost souls struggling to find meaning.